Wednesday, February 22, 2017

The Olympic hockey tournament changed like never before in 1998 when the the National Hockey League players were allowed to compete for the first time. Prior to the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, professional players were allowed to participate, but with the Games taking place in February, the highest caliber players obligated to their ongoing NHL seasons, preventing them from even dreaming of taking part in the Olympics.

Starting in 1920, the Olympic gold medal was essentially the property of Canada, winning 6 out of 7 possible gold medals through 1952. With the arrival of the Soviet Union on the scene in 1956, the balance of power was radically changed. Through 1992, when the Soviet trained players skated together one final time as the Unified Team, the Soviets won 8 to of 10 golds, with only the Americans winning twice at home preventing a clean sweep over the course of 4 decades by the Soviets.

Sweden took the gold in 1994 over Canada, but the form charts needed to be thrown away with the sudden availability of the stars of the NHL, who were now going to be on hand for the first time since their formative years, if not the first time ever for some, most notably Wayne Gretzky of Canada. With the NHL season on hold, interest in the tournament was tremendous.

Jaromir Jagr would be making his first Olympic appearance in 1998

The tournament began with Kazakhstan winning Group A and Belarus taking Group B, with the two former Soviet states advancing to the First Round at the expense of Slovakia, Italy, Austria, Germany, France and Japan, whose tournaments were now over after just three games of the Preliminary Round.

The tournament format now called for two groups of four teams to play a round robin schedule to determine their seeings when they all would advance to face an opponent from the opposite group in the single elimination Final Round playoffs.

Kazakhstan was placed in Group D along with the Czech Republic, Finland and Russia, who were all placed into the First Round directly based on their IIHF world ranking prior to the tournament, the same as Canada, Sweden and the United States in Group C, who were joined by Belarus.

In Group C, Canada finished first with a perfect 3-0 record to give them hope of returning to the top place on the medal stand for the first time since 1952 now that the controversy between their best amateurs versus the Soviet "amateurs" had now been finally removed, leveling the playing field on the Olympic stage for the first time in decades.

Canada's opponent as the first seed in Group C was the fourth place finisher in Group D, Kazakhstan. Sweden finished second thanks to a 4-2 win over the Americans, which paired them with Finland in the quarterfinals.

Group D winning Russia drew overmatched Belarus from Group C, while the Czech Republic's second place in Group D saw it facing the United States.

Group winners Canada and Russia held serve with a pair of easy 4-1 wins over Kazakhstan and Belarus as expected. The under achieving United States ran afoul of the Czech Republic, also by a 4-1 score. The only upset in terms of seeding came with Finland's exciting 2-1 defeat of Nordic rivals Sweden in a tense game that was scoreless after two periods.

The parings for the semifinals saw Canada drawing the Czech Republic. The Canadians were armed with some of the finest firepower in all of the world, including forwards Wayne Gretzky, Theo Fleury, Paul Kariya, Eric Lindros, Joe Nieuwendyk, Joe Sakic, Brendan Shanahan and Steve Yzerman, boasted a defensive hall of fame with Rob Blake, Ray Bourque, Al MacInnis, Chris Pronger and Scott Stevens, with the legendary PatrickRoy in goal. Amazingly, the Canadian team General Manager BobbyClarke chose RobZamuner to be on the Canadian roster over MarkMessierand Lindros as captain rather than Gretzky, Bourque or Yzerman!

Going into their game against Canada, the Czechs had won three and lost one, but goaltender DominikHasek was in top form, having surrendered only 5 goals in 4 games, with their only loss being a 2-1 decision to Russia in the First Round.

The Czech Republic losing to Russia 2-1 in Group D play

The first two periods passed without a goal by either side, as Roy and Hasek traded saves. Finally halfway through the third period, JiriSlegr beat Roy with an assist from the veteran PavelPatera. The Canadians pressed hard for the equalizer, but the Czech defensive system stood tall and Hasek took care of the rest as time would down. Finally with just 1:03 remaining in the game, TrevorLinden solved Hasek with an assist from Lindros.

Jaromir Jagr battles Joe Niewendyk of Canada

Following a scoreless overtime, the game went to a shootout to determine who would advance to the gold medal final. Fleury, Bourque, Nieuwendyk, Lindros and Shanahan were all stopped by the on-form Hasek, while RobertReichel's opening goal in off the pipe proved to be enough to win the game for the Czechs.

Hasek stops Shanahan to seal the victory for the Czech Republic

Russia advanced to face their long-time rivals with a dominant 7-4 win over Finland, setting up a rematch of their earlier First Round game, which was won by the Russians 2-1.

The championship final, held on this date in 1998, was a predictably low scoring affair, as each team looked to exploit any mistakes by their opponent, while both teams kept their game simple and looked to avoid any unnecessary mistakes. Just like in their first meeting, the opening period passed with no scoring and moved on to the second.

Action from the second meeting between Russia and

the Czech Republic, only this time for the gold medal

Again, Hasek in goal for the Czechs and MikhailStalenkov stood tall in goal for the Russians as both teams failed to solve the other. As the game approached the midway point of the third period, a faceoff took place in the Russian zone to the right of Stalenkov. MartinProchazka won the draw back to his winger Patera, who simply slid the puck back to PetrSvoboda on the point, who teed up the puck and fired it on goal. It passed through a tangle of traffic still hooked up following the faceoff and flew past Stalenkov and into the net for a 1-0 Czech Republic lead with 11:52 still remaining.

Hasek holding off the Russian attack

The goal was enough for Hasek however, as he and his teammates finished off the shutout to capture the first gold medal of the full participation Olympic hockey tournament, making Hasek a household name around the world and Svoboda an instant and unlikely hero, as in 1,028 NHL games, the defensive defenseman had only scored 58 goals, less than 3 1/2 per season, with a career high of 8.

Jagr's gold medal earned him a meeting with Czech President Vaclav Havel

Today's featured jersey is a1998 Czech Republic National Team Dominik Hasek jersey as
worn when the Czech Republic captured the Olympic gold medal in Nagano,
Japan. This bold style of jersey was first worn in the 1998 Olympics
and is associated with a golden era of Czech hockey, having been worn
not only for the Olympic gold in 1998, but also for three consecutive
World Championship gold medals in 1999, 2000 and 2001.

Extra bonus jersey: Today's extra bonus jersey is a 1998 Czech Republic Jaromir Jagr jersey as worn during the Olympics in Nagano, Japan. This style of jersey was first introduced for the 1998 Olympics by Nike, who produced new uniforms for each of the participating teams in that year's Games.

The Czech Republic jerseys, while somewhat similar to Canada and Belarus, with it's arched striping from the collar to the armpits, employed a unique font for the numbers as well as the bold color blocks inspired by the flag of the Czech Republic to set it apart from the others, but left no doubt as to who it belonged to with the ultra bold CZECH emblazoned across the lower back.

Our first video today are quick highlights from the Czech Republic's gold medal performance at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano. Gooooooaaaaaaallllllll!!!!

Up next is the tense shootout between Canada and the Czech Republic in the semifinals, highlighting the sprawling, twisting, unorthodox style used by Hasek to full effect.

This next video contains highlights from the goal medal final, won by the Czech Repbulic 1-0 over Russia, focusing on Svoboda's goal.

Our aim is to feature a different jersey each day from a historical perspective. Stay tuned and hopefully you'll see some jerseys of interest or perhaps some that you haven't seen before and learn a bit of hockey history along the way.

In addition to our articles, be sure to scroll down this column and explore the other fun and informative features of this blog.

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